Yulinka Cooks is Closed

It's been a good six-year run, but it's time to close up shop. Yulinka Cooks may come back someday in this guise or a different one (as it has at least twice since 2006). I'm still around on the interwebs, of course, so feel free to contact me with questions about anything on the blog: yulinkacooks at yahoo dot com.

Всего доброго! (All the best, see you, bye-bye, later!)

Pie on the Fly

In lieu of proper blogging, I'm posting pictures of Russian pies this week. That's cabbage pie, a cheesecake-like pie called vatrushka and mushroom pie. My mom made these, I don't have the recipe, nor do I plan to recreate them myself since I'm not that into Russian baking these days. (I couldn't find many reliable-sounding recipes for Russian pies, so if you know of any, please share.)

However, to make this more of a proper blog post, I will share a few cultural factoids about Russian pies:

• You may know about pirozhki (пирожки, plural; пирожок, singular), which are small, pastry-like pies.
• A pizza-sized pie like the one above is called a pirog.
• The Russian word pirog (пирог) stems from the word "pir" (пир), which means feast.
• Popular pie fillings for Russian pies are cabbage (sauteed with onions and mixed with hard-boiled eggs), mushrooms, fish and rice, and for pirozhki, potatoes, ground beef, or fruit. I once blogged about making mushroom pie.
• A vatrushka (ватрушка) is a pastry filled with farmer's cheese (also known as tvorog/творог). I made vatrushki (ватрушки, plural) back in the day.

Stuff Russians Like

Oh, hello! I'm taking another protracted blogging break while I figure out what to do with Yulinka Cooks. In the meantime, enjoy this read from a much-more frequently updated Russian girl blog: Why do Russians love Ferrero Rocher?  (Ferrero Rocher are those round little chocolates that come in a crinkly gold wrapper.)

Writes Vicki Boykis:

"If you’ve ever been to a Russian house, you know what I’m talking about. The tea set comes out, the fruits and nuts come out, and out comes the Ferrero Rocher."

What else do Russians like? Off the top of my head: jams of all kinds (eaten out of a saucer, with a spoon), honey, Russian ginger cookies (prianiki). Take it away, readers!